A temporary hiatus

My blog posts will be on a short hiatus due to travel.  Watch for my next update on Saturday!

Recent Portraits

Some people are just so easy to photograph that it's not fair and this fellow is one of them.  I took several photos of him but I really only needed one.

Canon 1Dx with Canon 85mm L series f1.2 lens.  ISO 100, 1/40 sec @ f/6.3.  Elinchrom 500W strobe camera right with umbrella modifier. A silver reflector is to the left of the frame, on the subjects right. Remote triggering of the strobe made using Pocket Wizard transmitters.

Recent Portraits

I happen to know this fellow rather well.  He hates getting his photo taken and it was only because that he was given no choice that he agreed to it on this occasion.  He's one of the most enthusiastic and positive people you'll ever meet so I told him that was the way I wanted him to look in his photo.  I'm pretty happy with the result - sure hope he is too!

Recent Portraits

Taking portraits is one of my favourite things to do.  Recently I was asked to take a few head shots of some senior people who work for a major construction company.  I believe that even a straight forward head-and-shoulders business photo should have a little style to it.

Recent Projects

While the interior of this hotel is guest-ready there is still a lot of work to do on the exterior.  I'll return when the weather is fine to complete the exterior photography and a few other interior spaces.  For now, here's one last photo of the lobby bar.

Recent Projects

Photos such as these are used in promoting a certain style.  Sometimes they appear as iconic images in reports and proposals as well as marketing material.

Recent Projects

The lobby bar, business connection points and the lobby of this hotel are all one giant space that is subdivided only by the careful placement of furniture, plants and screens.

Recent Projects

The designers asked for some detail photos of this renovated hotel in addition to the usual overall photos.  The selection and placement of the various furnishings and embellishments is part of the 'artifacting' scope of the project and the designers work with the owners representative in placing every single thing in the hotel - nothing is arbitrary or left to chance.

Recent Projects

This hotel in west Edmonton was constructed in phases starting around 1970.  It was sold a few years ago and the new owners embarked on total modernization of the property.  The first guests arrived in the renovated hotel in late January.  This is the lobby bar.

Recent Projects

Detail photos such as this often find their way into proposals written by architects and builders.

Recent Projects

The second floor lobby area of the EPCOR Tower features several seating alcoves that are reminiscent of a residential living room.

Recent Projects

It's all in the details it seems.  This is a detail photo from the main floor water feature in the EPCOR Tower.

Recent Projects

This photo of the main floor lobby space at the EPCOR tower features several of the key features; the water element, lobby seating areas and second floor alcoves are all prominent in this photo.

Recent Projects

This is the lobby of the Epcor Tower in downtown Edmonton.

Recent Projects

This is a detail photo of a sculpture residing in the lobby of the new EPCOR tower in Edmonton.  I'd guess that this steel grizzly bear is about 2 or 3 times full size.

Event Photography

Of all the photo assignments I undertake those that cause me the greatest stress is event photography.  I think it's because there are usually high expectations and one truly has to make it up on the fly; you can hardly interrupt proceedings for a re-take.  What if there's an equipment malfunction or battery failure?  what happens when a key speaker is looking down at their notes all the time?  You just have to take a load of images and hope for the best.

This is the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta addressing the 2014 U of A first year Pharmacy students at their 'white coat' ceremony.

Alphanumeric Studies

When I'm out and about I'm on the look out for patterns and shapes that inadvertently appear to be numbers or letters.  This bid of wrought iron could be a '3' or an 'E'.

Recent Portraits

This portrait was made in the subjects home.  She is an interior designer and wanted an update portrait for the website.

From the Vault

I was on the hunt for a misfiled image and I came across this photo taken several years ago when I was out photographing our friend Kate and her horse.  I took this photo in the stables.

Jasper in January

Once I had the camera settings sorted out I made several sweeping motion photos.  This one employs a diagonal action of the camera while the shutter is being activated.

Jasper in January

Creating this kind of blurred image with an SLR camera is fairly easy but with a point and shoot camera it's a little harder, particularly in bright conditions.  The shutter has to be set to a slow speed and to get a propper exposure you have to set the camera ISO to it's lowest setting (on the G15 that's ISO 80) and use the smallest aperture (f/8 on the G15).  On a dSLR the aperture could go as low as f/16 or smaller depending on the lens.  A bit of experimentation yielded this photo made with an down-to-up action.

Jasper in January

Everywhere I turned in this stand of trees there was another great backlit scene.  Pointing the camera into the sun is widely believed to be a no-no and in a bright open area it will lead to some exposure challenges.  Not impossilbe to over come and many great photos have been taken doing exactly this.  It just requires a bit more planning and control.  In a scene like this the camera is pointed into the sun but the ever green trees behind act a giant light modifier that allows direct light onto the the silvery bark of the aspens and makes the young evergreen trees shimmer in the distance.

Canon G15 photo.

Jasper in January

This lone evergreen tree appears to be hiding behind these aspens.

Jasper In January

Whilst on the road to Pyramid Lake we observed this stand of trees; with the sun behind them the bark takes on a shimmering silver quality.

Jasper In January

The low hanging fog in the valley with the sunlit peaks beyond makes for a nice photograph.